A certain degree of certainty is needed to function well. 

In mundane matters… I walk my sidewalk freely because I’m certain the ground will hold me. I eat granola unanxiously because a thousand uneventful digestions have proven it to be a breakfast that works for me.

In moral matters… Experience and common sense unite us at least on some things. I’m certain theft is wrong, so are you, and so is the state that has laws on the books to return stolen cars to their owners. 

In spiritual matters… Granted, things unseen allow for a greater degree of uncertainty. Still, because of the galaxy, the Gospels, and the God I’ve experienced personally, I’ve come to some level of certainty that God is real and God is good. My certainty is still called faith because I’m trusting something I can’t see. But faith at its truest is ​“certainty of things hoped for” (Heb. 11:1 NASB) — faith like a person in a dark room groping toward a lightswitch.

Certainty certainly has its shadow side: some Christians, sure of their rightness, hold beliefs with a harmful rigidity. 

Then again, so does uncertainty: other Christians, seeking to be nonjudgmental, try to keep an open mind about just about everything. But at some point that breaks down, too. To quote Chesterton,

“Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” 

What causes hostility and harm between us isn’t being certain but being excessively certain, not having boundary lines but holding them with animus. This is true on a geopolitical scale and a personal scale. We must be relatively certain about some things, we must have reasonable boundaries in some areas — but Christ calls us to hold both certainty and boundaries in a loving way.

Romans 12:9 – 21 is brilliant here. Like a well-tuned instrument, it holds tension in a way that sings: 

“Love must be sincere.”

First of all, develop tender and true hearts. Be vulnerable. 

“Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”

Strong words. But how we do this shouldn’t make us condescending jerks, because Paul says…

“Be devoted to one another in love.”

He goes further…

“Honor one another above yourselves.”

And further, sounding like his Master…

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”

“Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.”

And in case we missed the part about not being proud, he adds: 

“Do not be conceited.”

Hold boundaries and certainty with great humility.

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil… Do not take revenge. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

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So, God, help us to be as certain as we can be of you and your heart, your love, your competence, your justice, your way. If we doubt, let us doubt our self-righteousness. You know firsthand that life is hard. When someone has hurt us or a loved one, when politics makes us feel like it’s us and ​“them,” it’s hard to hold boundaries with a heart that blesses. Help us. We ask for wisdom. May we ask, as your servant James taught us, not with wavering doubt but with a reasonable faith grown through first-person experience… Faith that you are a good Father who gives good gifts and out-of-this-world thinking, and who holds all things together in tension but does not grow weary or bitter in the holding.